Blessed Carles de Montegranelli

Carlo di Bandino (County of Monte Granelli, Romagna Toscana, c. 1330 – Venice, September 15, 1417) was a Tuscan nobleman who led a religious life and founded the Congregation of the Hermits of Saint Jerome of Fiesole. He is venerated as a blessed by the Catholic Church. Carlo di Bandino dei Conti Guidi, of the family of the Counts Guidi of Romena or Monte Granelli, was born around 1330 in the County of Monte Granelli (Florentine Romagna, in the provinces of Florence and Forlì). As was expected, he followed a military career, but left it while still young to consecrate himself to religion. He became a priest in Florence, where he engaged in apostolate. Nevertheless, wishing to withdraw from the world, he decided in 1360 to live as a hermit on the mountain of Fiesole. Cosimo the Elder likely gave him the land where he lived and built a cell and a chapel dedicated to Saint Jerome of Stridon, living there as a hermit. His example attracted other young men who wished to dedicate themselves to prayer as he did, and the hermitage had to be expanded with the construction of more cells. Advised by the Dominicans, he decided to establish a new religious congregation to organize the group of hermits; in 1405, the Congregation of the Hermits of Saint Jerome was born, called "of Fiesole" to distinguish it from others similar to it. It was approved that same year by Pope Innocent VII, who placed it under the Rule of Saint Augustine. Later, to receive and attend to the Florentine pilgrims who climbed to Fiesole, especially on Saturdays, he created the Company of Saint Jerome and, at the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, the Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel, intended for children and approved in 1427. He also founded convents of the congregation in other cities, especially in central and northern Italy. He repeatedly rejected offers from Cosimo de' Medici to enlarge the Fiesole hermitage, as he considered it sufficient and believed it should be lived in poverty.